Hi! I'm in a different area but our cold nights mean that I stopped feeding in November, I think. They were on Hakari wheat germ food as the temperatures were dropping. They look pretty good - not skinny at all but there are a lot of underwater plants and even some algae that I am assuming they are grazing on. I understand that it's the protein that they can't digest. Is there anything like that for them to eat in your pond? I don't expect to be able to restart the wheat germ before mid-april but some people here have fish in their livestock dirt and galvanized tanks and they NEVER feed them. There must be a way for you, too.
Vanessa

Hi, My pond is 5'x5'x28" (300ga). I stopped feeding the fish in early October, and trimmed the plants and dropped them to the bottom in mid-October, and covered 1/2 the pond with styrofoam and put in a tank heater in early November. There has been a 8" to 18" hole open all winter and a snowbank on the other 1/2. Oh, there's a little air stone in there too. I lost 1 fish. The other 7 big ones can be seen slowly hovering on the bottom if the light thru the hole is right. So far so good. I can't see the 15 or 20 1" babies.

I'll start feeding again when the water temp is about 50 and the fish are active, usually late April, early May. There's algae and stuff to keep them happy 'til then. My fish grow during the winter, so I'll keep doing what I'm doing. And I just use regular flake goldfish food.

Just my 2 cents. What works for some doesn't always work for others.
S

The fish will be fine outdoors as long as you can meet a few requirements. Mainly keeping an open area in the ice to allow for gas exchange. Plenty of people leave their fish out year round in our climate with great success.

This winter has been a struggle, for sure. More so because of the snow than anything. I'm hoping for the best, but I'm expecting to hear about a lot of fish kills. Time will tell.